On a nice warm Arizona morning at Firebird West, the stage was set for another exciting 944 spec race.  F.I.R. West is a tight course with limited passing zones.  Getting a good start and getting through the first set of turns clean was everyone’s game plan.  We had two spec Miata’s joining in on the fun and mayhem.

Qualifying had Newmark (47x) in first, barely in front of 2nd place Geisler (03) and 3rd place Hamden (99).  About 0.5 seconds behind with very close times were 4th place Griffith (7), 5th Paluch (94), 6th Buckley (11).  Followed by 7th Richard (19), 8th Hauk (08), 9^th Jackson (Spec Miata #8), 10th Marlow (74) and the spec Miata of Halpin (4) starting in the back due to a bad transponder.

The start did not disappoint the spectators.  Geisler got by Newmark, Richard with Hauck on his tail got by Buckley changing the order coming into the first turn.  Almost the entire field went through the first turn 2 wide, in a drift, all exiting clean with a tire or two going off.  As the pack approached the carousel the mayhem began.  Too many cars going for the same spot resulted in a huge dust cloud and cars going off track in every direction.  The end result was Newmark and Richard parked in the dirt.  Emerging from the cloud was Geisler in 1^st fallowed by Paluch, Griffith, Buckley, Hamden, Jackson (sm), Hauck, Richard, Marlow, Halpin (sm), and Newmark dead last.

The rest of the race stayed pretty clean, with cars having battles all over the track, small dust clouds could be seen as cars would dip a tire or two off track trying to make passes.  Newmark was on a tear and made two passes by lap 2 as Griffith got by Paluch for 2nd.  By lap 3 Newmark got by two more cars as Hamden got by Buckley for 4th.  On lap 7 Griffith went into the pits and was out of the race as Newmark passed Jackson (sm) and Buckley, putting himself into 4^th place.  On lap 8 Newmark got by Paluch securing a podium position, but he wasn’t done yet. 

At the midpoint of the race (lap 10) the order was:  Geisler, Hamden, Newmark, Paluch, Buckley, Halpin (sm), Jackson (sm), Hauck, Richard, and Marlow.  The best battles besides Newmarks charge to the front were Buckley and Paluch going fender to fender through every turn.  Then there was Hauck, Richard, and Marlow in a great three way battle with the Miata’s of Halpin and Jackson in the mix.  On lap 12 Buckley made the pass on Paluch and Marlow got by Richard.  On lap 13 Hamden had mechanical issues and would have to watch the rest of the race parked in the infield, improving everyone but Geislers position.

By lap 13 Geisler has his mirror full of the 47x of Newmark, but not for long, as Newmark made the pass into 1st and began to pull away and set a track record in the process.  The order through the field would pretty much stay the same for the remainder of the race, with Newmark putting an 8 second gap on 2nd place Geisler who struggled all race with bad front sway bar mount. Buckley finished in 3rd with an 11 second gap.

Final Results:  1. Newmark (47x)    2. Geisler (03)   3. Buckley (11)   4. Paluch (94)   5. Hauck (08)   6. Marlow (74)   7. Richard (19)   8. Hamden (99)   9. Griffith (7)

Spec Miata’s:  1. Halpin (4)   2. Jackson (8) Finishing just behind Paluch (94)